The Importance of Tree Trimming

ONE MORNING IN LATE February, I awoke to what I thought was gunfire. I went outside and noticed tree limbs lying everywhere and realized that the sound I heard was tree branches cracking. I knew this meant we were most likely going to have a lot of power outages. And while BEC did suffer some outages from power lines sagging into trees throughout the system, the outages were isolated, thanks in part to our tree trimming program. Our program is based on a 10-year day, but trees and power lines don’t work well together. trimming cycle, which means we need to trim the trees sufficiently so that we don’t have to come back for 10 years.

Tree trimming around power lines is dangerous work that requires specialized safety training and knowledge of specific techniques that will keep the tree safe and healthy. These techniques were developed by arborists and have been adopted throughout the electric utility industry.

Tree care workers have one of America's most dangerous jobs. Each year, tree care injuries account for about 80 deaths and at least 23,000 chain saw injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms. Tree trimmers regularly encounter heights, slippery conditions, falling limbs, sharp equipment and electrical wires.

Injuries from tree care work often increase after storms, when unqualified contractors or uninformed homeowners try to take matters into their own hands. About two years ago, I fell victim to a chain saw and ended up with 13 stitches in my leg.

Tree trimming is just part of maintaining our easements, which includes the clearing of trees, bushes or other objects that would be barriers to co-op crews accessing our equipment. Utility easements are critical to operating and maintaining reliable electric service. We all love the natural beauty of trees and the shade they provide on a hot summer

The moral of the story is that BEC has trained professionals who properly maintain our easements, which includes trimming trees. Our focus is to keep your lights on and to minimize the risk of damage to people or property from trees. Sometimes that means we need to come onto your property and trim some trees. If you have a problem tree near a power line, call us—don’t try to trim it yourself. D